Sacramento should stop new tax on driving

March 10, 2016

Do you want the government following your car every day? Most of us don’t like that Orwellian vision, but that’s what a tax scheme brewing in the Legislature just might do.

Californians don’t want a new tax on driving. As of December, the state pilot program to create a new mileage tax had convinced only 570 Californian drivers to sign up – a tiny portion of the 5,000-driver goal. Why Californians aren’t participating is clear: We don’t trust Sacramento with more of our money.

Proponents contend this new tax will replace the existing taxes on gasoline, but when is the last time you heard of a government eliminating a revenue source? The California sales tax was created as a temporary “emergency measure” in 1933, and it never went away. As Ronald Reagan said, “Government programs, once launched, never disappear.”

A similar pilot program underway in Oregon requires drivers to pay new mileage taxes on top of existing gas taxes. Drivers must wait to get a refund after the fact. This monthly billing process will only create greater issues with the creation of a bureaucratic collections agency.

Proponents also claim gas tax revenue is drying up, but, according to the most recent annual report from the California Board of Equalization, gas-tax collections were up a half-billion dollars in fiscal year 2013-14 over the year before, and gas consumption was also up by more than 100 million gallons during the same period. Despite the growing popularity of fuel-efficient vehicles, gasoline usage is not in terminal decline.